NEW STORE’S ‘MANCAKES’ BRING HOME THE BACON

A new cupcake shop in Santee has come up with a novel recipe that includes devil’s food cake, maple buttercream frosting and bacon bits, topped with a stick of bacon.

Anne Montgomery and Yvette Nolta, the mother-daughter team that runs the Cupcake Store at 9225 Carlton Hills Blvd., call them “mancakes.”

“We figured it has everything that appeals to a man’s palate,” Nolta said Wednesday.

She and her mother had planned to sell them only on Mondays, or “Mancake Mondays,” as they dubbed them, but the cupcakes have been selling so well that they are now available other days of the week.

“Usually the men are like, ‘Oh wow, that sounds great,’ and the women are like, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Nolta said.

The cupcakes sell for $1.50 to $2.75 each, depending on size. The shop opened in February and sells several kinds of the mini-cakes, including strawberry margarita, salted caramel chocolate and vegan snickerdoodle.

Steve Schmidt • U-T

Improvements coming to Santee Lakes park

Santee

Parts of the Santee Lakes park are getting face-lifts.

The park is replacing three picnic structures and a playground with updated structures that will add shade. Lake 1 is getting a new three-tiered gazebo; Lake 5 gets a smaller gazebo on the south end with a modern design.

The total cost for the replacement project is $963,375. Money from ratepayers in the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which owns the lakes and park, is not being used for the project. The project was funded through the Santee Lakes Park Fund, along with a grant from the state Land and Water Conservation Fund. Construction is expected to be completed in July.